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Thread: Buying your own plane for training

  1. #1

    Join Date
    Jul 2015
    Posts
    28

    Buying your own plane for training

    I want to post this in the hopes that others will see what I’ve done and not be discouraged in pursuing sport pilot training.

    So at the tender age of 55 I decided to fulfill a lifelong dream of learning to fly. Back when the sport pilot cert came out I thought that would be the ideal way to go. Early on of course there weren't many planes available to train in. As that changed of course life got in the way but now I was ready. The first thing I did was buy the Gleim sport pilot kit. I wanted to see what I was getting into and this would be needed anyway. Unfortunately, the reality was that despite living in an aviation rich environment, there was only one flight school that offered sport pilot training. Conveniently it was about 2 blocks from my house so normally this would be an ideal situation. However, their apparently once mighty fleet of LSAs had now dwindled down to a single Cessna Skycatcher. I was politely told I was too heavy (then 260#) for that plane. I'd have to lose at least 25# to have a reasonable shot at training in it. Of course I was told to consider private pilot, it's just twice the hours and costs. It didn't make sense to me since I knew most of my flying will be by myself and I'm just looking to fly for fun and maybe short trips. So while the dieting began in earnest, I started to look around for alternatives. I was willing to travel a short distance for training. I also looked for a private instructor who maybe had a plane I could train in. I live on Long Island and I found 3 schools in CT that would be about a 1 hour drive and 1+ hour ferry ride. Of the three schools I found, one no longer offered it, the second had a 210# weight limit (that would take a Bobby Sands diet to reach) but the 3rd did have a Remos and a 250# limit. It would be an expensive proposition since the Remos was more expensive to rent and the ferry ride alone was $30 each way (if I took my motorcycle). I could find nothing in NJ (not that they don't exist, I just couldn't find them). I joined EAA and contacted the local chapter president to see if he knew of anyone. He made inquiries but no luck. I did get much very valuable information from him though.

    After much thought it occurred to me that I might be better off just getting my own LSA. After all, the Skycatcher was the only plane for rent within 2 hours of where I lived. Having my own plane might make it easier to find an instructor and then I'd be able to fly when I wanted. Much research went into the fixed cost of operating my own plane as well as what models might suit my needs. It became clear that unless I wanted a 1940's era plane like an Ercoupe, I was going to have to get an E-LSA. The S-LSAs were just too pricey for me. And of course the plane would have to have a useful load North of 500#.

    So I scoured the Internet, sites like Barnstormers, Trade-a-plane and others. Looked at what was available and researched those models. Sadly, most of the planes that might be of interest were located on the other side of the country. The cost of going there to look at the plane and then have it ferried back were just prohibitive. I finally zeroed in on a model, the Zenith CH601. It was by all accounts an easy plane to fly, had a good useful load and most were in my price range. The engines used in the planes I saw varied from Lycomings to Corvair. I wanted to find one with a Rotax engine because I knew them to be reliable, easy and relatively inexpensive to service. Other things I looked for was a radio, mode c transponder(my intent is to get the class B, C and D airspace endorsement) and anything else was gravy. I located 2 possible candidates, one in PA and one in NJ. The PA one was pending sale but the NJ plane was up for grabs. My mom happens to live about 45 minutes from where the plane was based so on a weekend visit I took some time to go have a look at the plane.

    The seller arranged to have a CFI take me up in the plane. We actually had an extensive ground lesson (he explained the plane to me in detail; we did a pre-flight inspection and an extensive w/b). It was good to see that with the 150# instructor, me now at 250# and 18 gallons of fuel we were still under max weight. It was a hot, humid day and the density altitude was around 1800' but we stilled climbed out at 500 fpm. The instructor demonstrated the nimble qualities of the plane and let me take the controls doing some shallow and steep turns, climbs descents and straight and level (well as best as I could with getting bumped around with the thermals). He also guided me through the landing. Well, I was sold on the plane. I made the seller an offer and he accepted. Now just to get insurance and financing. The first thing I learned was don't try to buy an airplane during AirVenture week (unless perhaps you're at AirVenture). As a student pilot trying to get insurance for your own plane is difficult and expensive. As an AOPA member, I decided to go through them for financing. That was a mistake. We weren't talking big money here but they have a one size fits all approach and it quickly became apparent that getting financing on and E-LSA was going to be more difficult than it should be. After submitting all kinds of paperwork, a week later the bank could still not tell me if it would give me the money I was asking for because they needed to determine what they thought the plane was worth. So I went online and in 2 hours got approved for a personal loan for the amount I needed at 1.5% less than what the bank was offering and no closing costs. While I was waiting for all of this I made sure the flight school would train me in my own plane. They had to negotiate a bit with the insurance company but got them to allow the CFI to train me after he has 5 solo hours in my plane. I also had to arrange a pre-buy inspection. The A&P I chose was familiar with both the aircraft and the engine. He gave me a very thorough walk through of both the airframe and the Rotax 912. Not that I’m going to do it myself anytime soon, he explained how to change the oil and how to burp the engine before checking the oil.
    Ok, so insurance, financing and CFI lined up, now I just needed to arrange delivery. The seller was very good and willing to fly the plane to its new home base (HWV) at his expense. So while he was making those arrangements, I bought the accessories I needed. It was going to be tied down outside so I needed tie downs, canopy cover, wheel chocks, a headset(not included in the sale), etc. Got all that done and the seller called me with a delivery date. Two days later I was off to the airport to rent my tie down and wait for the plane. It arrived on time with a Bonanza following behind to fly the seller and his pilot back home. I tied the plane down, took care of the paperwork with the seller and it was finally mine.

    Now the fun begins. Monday I go to the local FSDO to get my student certificate. I also need to have the schools mechanic give an OK on the plane and then the CFI will start flying off his 5 hours. Finally, I will be able to start my lessons.

    I will update this periodically regarding my progress.
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  2. #2

    Join Date
    Aug 2015
    Location
    Carlsbad,CA (near San Diego)
    Posts
    37
    Thanks Chuck. looking forward to following your progress.

    (I'm also a Sport Pilot wanna be )

  3. #3

    Join Date
    Jul 2015
    Posts
    3
    Congratulations Chuck! Your airplane looks great! And great initiative to get your own aircraft and find your own financing!

    I am a bigger guy also (250# as well and working to reduce) but am training in the Remos. Luckily I have one nearby, so training has been relatively painless. But I too was looking at aircraft to purchase and found that other financing options other than AOPA were more competitive. (I believe AOPA uses Bank of America.) In the end, I've decided to continue training and I'll rent an aircraft. But I admire your drive to create to coordinate a deal and put a plane in your tie-down spot!

    Looking forward to reading about your progress!

  4. #4

    Join Date
    Sep 2014
    Location
    Arkansas
    Posts
    47
    Great story and nice looking ride! Many in my state (Arkansas) buy their airplane to train in regardless of which certificate they are after, not that many actual flight schools here. I bought a Cessna 150 a few years before sport pilot was invented, took all my training, then sold it for 99.5% of my purchase price. Each time I was with an instructor, we were over weight... There's a 150 pound instructor? that person is probably worth twice their weight in gold...

    Keep us posted!

  5. #5

    Join Date
    Jul 2015
    Posts
    28
    Ok, so we're getting closer to the start of my lessons. Got my student certificate from the FSDO yesterday. Registered with the school this morning only to find out my instructor is in Spain. Their mechanic also needs to give his approval which probably isn't going to happen today with the weather. It's like having a new toy you can't play with.

  6. #6

    Join Date
    Sep 2014
    Location
    Arkansas
    Posts
    47
    Don't forget that you can root around and find many independent instructors. They might be better for you anyway, as alot of them have their regular job and instruct just for the 'joy' or whatever it might be in mentoring someone else with aviation.

  7. #7

    Join Date
    Jul 2015
    Posts
    28
    Quote Originally Posted by 67jwbruce View Post
    Don't forget that you can root around and find many independent instructors. They might be better for you anyway, as alot of them have their regular job and instruct just for the 'joy' or whatever it might be in mentoring someone else with aviation.
    Yeah, I wasn't having any luck with that and then there is still the issue with the insurance.

  8. #8

    Join Date
    Sep 2014
    Location
    Arkansas
    Posts
    47
    Guess you can't make up any economics that would allow you to ferry the plane to Arkansas and do your training here? Aside from whatever insurance issue you are having, I'd be interested in taking on the training. All I would need would be the 5 hours in type to allow me to do the training, and I'm guessing I would get that in the ferry flight.

    Oh well, I guess I'm not too old yet to have dreams too..

  9. #9

    Join Date
    Aug 2011
    Location
    Oklahoma City, OK
    Posts
    364
    Nice write-up. Keep us posted.

  10. #10

    Join Date
    Jan 2012
    Posts
    302
    Download the book "See How It Flies."

    Where are you located?

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